


Dancin' on Eggshells

by CypressRiverblade



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter Friendship, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Genderbending, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Master of Death Harry Potter, Pureblood Politics (Harry Potter), Ron Weasley is a Good Friend, Slytherin Harry Potter, Slytherin Politics, Time Shenanigans, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:36:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28753755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CypressRiverblade/pseuds/CypressRiverblade
Summary: In which Ron tries hard to convince people that he is not a Seer, Hermione intends to single-handedly rewrite history, and the newly crowned Master of Death Holly Lily Potter is very, very confused.And they aren’t alone.Time travel (sort of) fic, shenanigans, everyone is paranoid and suspicious of each other, everyone is trying to take control, chaos ensues.:)
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 16
Kudos: 95





	1. Wake up, its about time. (Get it? time? Oh whatever, I'm hilarious)

**Author's Note:**

> ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ Heyo~
> 
> Yes this is a Fem Harry Potter Fic. Sue me.   
> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> Any questions or comments, leave in the comments below.
> 
> So...Yeah.  
> Let the Time Travel Shenanigans ensue:

* * *

* * *

_“It’s almost time to go. Until you do as I said, you will not be able to remember this place.”_

_“Wait! If I don’t remember, then what’s the whole point of all this!?”_

_“You will remember these past seven years, and that will be sufficient. Worry not child.”_

_“And the others?”_

_“Shall return the very same moment you do. Of course, they too shall be ignorant about how they got there. But they shall remain fully ignorant about the how until you remember and tell them.”_

_“But wait, if I don’t remember this, I won’t know that they also came back.”_

_“You won’t. And neither will they know.”_

_“But then-!”_

_“The five of you shall figure it out in time. Now, my Mistress, are you ready to return?”_

  
  


_“... I’m ready.” She breathed._

  
  


_And Death smiled._

* * *

Petunia Dursley nee Evans was in a slump.

There were small mercies. Namely the fact that her son was away at a sleepover and her husband preoccupied with work. 

They wouldn’t have to deal with… this.

But then there was the problem at hand.

Namely her ten year old freak of a niece, unconscious, on the kitchen floor.

  
  


She had been catching up on writing letters in the living room when she heard the loud clanging of metal, followed by a thump.

“Girl!!” She screeched, already on her feet and marching towards the kitchen.

“If I find out that that good-for-nothing freak dared dent my pans then-“ the words died on her lips when her eyes fell on the object of her fury.

Which is what brought her to the present moment. 

The girl lay sprawled on the floor, messy hair everywhere. The frying pan loosely held in her hands. Luckily nothing was broken, or dented.

But the girl..

Petunia scowled and wrenched the frying pan from her grip, setting it in the sink to be washed.

Then she picked up the kettle, the water long cooled, and emptied it over the unconscious child’s head.

It both had the desired effect, and it didn’t.

The girl spluttered awake… but shot up so fast she tripped over her own feet and slammed her head on the still open cabinet. 

“Merlin’s bloody beard!!” The child hollered.

Petunia blanched. 

She stumbled backwards violently as if she had been struck, the metal kettle falling from her hands clanging loudly against the ground.

The words ringing in her ears. 

_Merlin_ … 

She had heard the name a few times in her youth before… everything. 

He was a character from children’s tales… a wizard. 

Did the girl… no.

The girl’s attention snapped at her. Eyes widened as she hissed under her breath. “A..Aunt Petunia..” her voice was breathy and ladened with shock.

_Merlin…_

‘ _Merlin’s beard, Tuney!-’_

“Cupboard.” She choked out, her shaking hand already pointing. “Now.”

The girl’s shock mixed with confusion. “What?”

“Cupboard… GO TO YOUR CUPBOARD NOW!!!!”

The girl flinched at the volume.

She stumbled towards her Cupboard awkwardly. 

As soon as she was out of sight, Petunia slid down to sit next to the kettle and puddle of water.

A dry sob escaped her lips.

* * *

It was Percy who heard the loud thumping noise and found him first, sprawled on the landing of the second floor at the base of the stairs.

It was Percy who checked him over, saw the growing bump on his head, and yelled for his siblings, anyone who was close enough to get there first.

It was Ginny who came. “Ron!” Her eyes widened in horror.

Percy was already half carrying him.

“Gin, go grab mum, I’m going to carry him downstairs.”

She nodded and rushed down. “Mum!! Mum, Ron’s hurt!”

Percy wasn’t the strongest of his siblings. Nevertheless, he had still had his fair share of carrying them.

He slung his youngest brother’s arm over his shoulder and carefully lifted him up.

Halfway down, the twins appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

“What happened?”

“We heard Ginny yelling.”

“It’s Ron.” Percy explained, pushing past them hurriedly to place the youngest brother on the couch. “I think he must’ve fallen down the stairs.”

“Ron! Oh for Merlin’s sake, get out of the way!” Molly Weasley made her appearance in the doorway, hurriedly taking off gardening gloves. Her daughter behind her and her sons gave her a wide berth.

“He fell down the stairs mum.”

“Maybe a concussion.” Percy added. “He’s knocked out.”

The matriarch’s wand was already out and waving over the unconscious boy. She nodded. “Fred, get the concussion potion. George, get the bruise salve.” As she spoke, her wand moved. The egg on Ron’s head stopped swelling and started to go down. 

The twins disappeared. 

Ginny fretted off to the side.

She flicked her wand and Ron rose into the air limply.

“Come on. We’ll take him back to his room. He’ll need to lie down for a while. Ginny, be a dear and finish tending to the chickens for me.” She handed her the gloves. Ginny nodded silently, her eyes still on her unconscious brother as her mother started making her way upstairs with him.

* * *

Nobody noticed that Hermione had fallen unconscious on her bed until her father came to get her for dinner.

“Hermione, dear?” He poked his head into her bedroom, only to see her curled in fetal position on top of her bed, her head on her open book and mouth parted slightly.

He smiled and let himself in. “Hermione.” He said again, gently shaking her arm. 

She groaned and rolled over, bunching up her blanket in her hands. “M’ tired.”

“Hermione, if you sleep now, you’ll have a hard time sleeping tonight.” He said gently, moving her book to her bedside table and bookmarking it with a tissue. “Come on, get up. Dinner is ready.”

She blearily opened her eyes. “Dad?” She said groggily.

He smiled. “Late night reading?”

She blinked a couple more times in confusion. “Where am I?”

“In your bedroom sweetheart, you fell asleep while-“ he glanced over at the book, “-reading about Egyptian Mythology.”

She blinked a couple more times. She groaned and rubbed her face. “What day is it?”

“Still Tuesday, the 10th of June, 1991. You only slept for a few hours.”

She blinked in confusion, still looking dazed. “I… I’m sorry. I’m very disoriented at the moment. Go ahead without me. I need to take a minute to… Yeah.”

She sat up groggily.

“To wake up? Sure. Don’t take too long, else the food would go cold.” He squeezed her hand before leaving her to her thoughts.

* * *

Holly stood in the hallway in a daze, still dripping water, and utterly lost for what to do.

She was back at Privet drive. And everything felt so… _wrong._

Her mind was in overdrive, yet no coherent thoughts were being processed properly.

She stood there for who knows how long before she blinked and seemed to come back to the present…

First off, she was wet.

She lifted up the bottom of her oversized shirt to wipe at her face and glasses.

It wasn’t until she put her glasses back on that she realized what was so wrong. 

The shirt, definitely Dudley’s and still drowning her, was… smaller… but that wasn’t the main problem. She was tiny again..

The floor was too close, her arms too pale, unscarred, and too thin. Not that she had ever not been unhealthily thin.

She started patting herself down. 

Her ribs and collarbones were sticking out. Her chest was completely flat again. She smelt like dish soap.

Tiny…

She looked up and around.

The last time she remembered being here at Privet drive… was when she was leaving to the Burrow with the order. Six doppelgängers flying alongside her… 

And now she was back. 

Somehow.

Back and _tiny_. As if the past seven years of her life had merely been an imagination, a thought that churned her gut uncomfortably.

She took a few steps forward, and _Merlin_ that felt weird.

Her legs were shorter. She wasn’t used to that. 

She looked up at the door in front of her. The Cupboard.

She slowly raised her hand to the door, and opened it. Her bed was there.. well.. it couldn’t exactly be called a bed. It was an old cot.

It didn’t seem as small as she remembered… but maybe that was because she herself was smaller.

There was a shirt on the bed, and a sock too…

It was like before she got her Hogwarts Letter.

Holly slowly closed the door and took a shaky breath.

She could check the newspaper later for further confirmation, but first, she needed to check something. 

She slowly and quietly made her way upstairs. The house was too quiet. It was unnerving. She slowly opened the door to the second bedroom.

The piles of broken and discarded toys confirmed her theory of it being before the Hogwarts letters. But when was it?

At least she was pretty sure she was in the past, and not some sort of hallucination or dream.. or nightmare.

She pinched her hand, hard. It sure seemed real.. but then again, there was magic and who knows the extent of what it could’ve done to her.

She knew that time travel was all too real.. but this was different from time turners. For one, she didn’t even remember what could’ve caused it.

The last thing she did remember was green…

The killing curse.

No. That wasn’t the last thing she remembered.

There was white.

So she really did die…

Or did she? She didn’t feel dead.

She tried to think back.

There was white… a train station… 

And that was where her memories became unbelievably fuzzy.

This couldn't be regular time travel. She would stay in her older body if that was the case. Or rather, she wouldn’t have the memories of her older self… no.

And there would be another younger Holly somewhere. 

This wasn’t like the time turners. So maybe the rules of time turners wouldn’t apply…

She stepped into the second bedroom and looked around to see if there was anything that she recognized that could help her figure out what day it was.

In her mind, it was over seven years ago, and she had pushed most of it from her memory. 

Broken TV, Broken clock (that could be useful), fancy untouched notebooks for whatever reason (also useful), broken Gameboy, boxing gloves, a couple of untouched books, three footballs, a bunch of other knickknacks… 

She took one of the empty notebooks and a fancy silver pen that she found and stuffed it under her shirt. 

Then she sighed and left the room, closing it behind her.

It was useless. She’d have to check on a newspaper. Or maybe the calendar that Aunt Petunia always kept perfectly up to date, but that was in the kitchen.

And she was supposed to be in the Cupboard.

She silently made her way downstairs and to the Cupboard. 

It would at least give her time to think.

She opened it up and dropped the notebook on the cot.

The book never touched the cot. Instead, it flew towards it, and then hit an invisible but seemingly soft barrier, before sliding onto the floor.

Her heart skipped a beat. She reached out slowly towards where the invisible thing was.

The air became tangible.

She choked back a sob when her fingers came in contact with the familiar cool fabric.

She quickly spun around to pull the door closed before turning to the bundle. 

The air shimmered as she caressed it. Picking it up, the invisible air melted into a shimmering silver. 

This time she chuckled wetly, feeling a lump form in her throat.

Whatever had happened, she was grateful that she was able to keep _something_ from the future.

~~Some _proof_ that it had all been real . ~~

Idly she wondered if Dumbledore would notice it’s absence.

She pulled the cloak to her chest and buried her face in the cool fabric.

Then she heard the sound of something else clattering to the ground.

She looked down and the blood drained from her face and the bottom of her stomach dropped. 

The offending items rolled to a stop.

If Dumbledore didn’t notice the cloak missing, he was definitely going to notice the loss of his wand, the Elder Wand.

The last time she had seen that was when she sealed it back up with Dumbledore’s body.

And then there was the ring, with the stone perfectly intact.

She reached towards it.

Suddenly her scar flared up violently. She gasped and choked on the sudden hot pain.

No.

No. This wasn’t supposed to happen anymore. 

The Horcrux has been destroyed-

She lay curled in fetal position, gasping and clutching her head until the pain finally dulled to a low, warning throb.

The Horcrux in her head had been destroyed when she was seventeen.

When she went into the forest to die.

But she wasn’t in her seventeen year old body anymore.

She was younger than eleven.

The Horcruxes hadn’t been destroyed yet. None of them had.

 _She still had a Horcrux inside her_.

 _And one in front of her_.

Two Horcruxes.

She itched to take ahold of both the wand and the stone on the ring.

She grimaced and picked up a random fallen shirt to wrap the ring in. It helped. The pain in her brow lessened somewhat. 

She’d have to kill the Horcrux first before she did anything regarding the ring. It was cursed after all.

She stuffed it under the cot she sat on and turned her attention to the wand.

Pure power was rolling off it in waves. 

She carefully reached out and picked it up. 

Would she be in trouble if she used magic now? Or would it just be waved off as accidental magic?

She didn’t want to risk it.

Yet she found herself rubbing her thumb against the elder wood. Magic dancing across her fingers in ways that she hadn’t had a chance to notice before.

She missed the familiar feel of her holly wand.

Would it be too bad for her to leave Privet Drive? 

She had entertained the thought countless times.

She now knew that there had been a blood ward on the house, made to protect her. 

_‘But did that really help?_ ’ Came a nagging voice from the back of her head. ‘ _Or did that do more harm than necessary?’_

She pursed her lips. Last time she had hesitated because she didn’t have anywhere to go… until Sirius.

She sat bolt upright. 

Sirius was alive. In azkaban, falsely convicted, but _Alive_.

She could live with him!...

As soon as she had him freed…

And preferably, dropped of all charges.

Last time, that was another thing that held her back from leaving the Dursleys. She hadn’t wanted to burden her Godfather while he was recovering and on the run. Then she stayed because the Order told her too.

But she could help free Sirius.

She grinned in the darkness.

They were all alive. Sirius, Fred, Remus, Tonks, Collin, Moody, Hedwig, 

And she could save them.

  
  


_Sparks_.

  
  


Bright gold and silver sparks spewed from the tip of the Elder Wand.

Her elation died instantly. Horror filled her.

The sparks died just as quickly.

But she had done it. 

She had accidentally done magic. 


	2. Adjustments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ron wakes from his concussion. Holly has some fun.. sorta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ Heyo~  
> Here's an Update, Enjoy!
> 
> (✿◠‿◠) ~♥

* * *

* * *

Ron woke with a groan and a merciless pounding in his head that felt like what he imagined the troll from first year felt like when he knocked it out with its own club. “What the bloody he-“

“Language.” His mother snapped, tilting his head to reapply what Ron vaguely guessed, from the feel and smell, was bruise salve to his cheek.

He blinked up at her a few times, squinting as the room, _his_ room, came into focus. It was dark, which he was thankful for because his head really hurt. But he was able to make out the figure closest to him. “Mum?”

She looked good. Healthy, younger, not at all how she had been the last time he saw her. Her eyes held less steel, less heartbreak.

“Yes dear,” she said gently, “how are you feeling? Is there anywhere that hurts specifically?”

Before he could fully internalize what she had asked, which was taking longer than it probably should have, two faces poked up from behind her.

“Ickle Ronnikins-“

“Took a tumble-“

“Hit his head, he did-“

“Good ol’ Perce found him-“

“Taking a nice lil nap-“

“At the bottom of the stairs.” They finished off with painfully familiar identical grins.

Ron stared, eyes darting back and forth between the two as they spoke.

His face went slack with shock at the sight of the two of them. _Both_ of them. Together. _Alive_. 

“Boys, not now.” His mother chastised offhandedly, moving to apply more bruise salve to his sore jaw.

His heart started beating fast, his head spinning. The twins were _both_ there? Alive and _young_ of all things? Where was he?

The last thing he remembered was fighting in the Battle of Hogwarts with what felt like a gaping hole in his chest because _Fred was dead_ , ~~so many people were dead~~ , and Holly was gone. Gone to face Voldemort herself. Gone to give herself up. ~~Gone to die.~~

He groaned and screwed his eyes shut, moving to drag his hand over his face.

“Ah, Ah, Ah, you’ll smear the bruise salve.” His mother gently nudged his hand away from his face. “How’s your headache?”

“Can’t think.” He forced past the lump in his throat. His voice felt wrong, strange to his ears. He grimaced. “Don’t wanna.”

It was the truth, but probably for a different reason than what she was thinking.

This could have just been a dream. His life flashing in front of his eyes. But he didn’t remember a scene like this. He didn’t remember getting killed or anything. And it felt all too real. The pounding in his head, the smell of the cool bruise salve and the feel of his mother’s gentle touch and his bedsheets. 

It was all too strange. Too  _ wrong. _

“That’s alright dear, now you just stay here and get some rest. I can get one of your brothers to bring you up some food and water. You missed lunch.”

He did feel hungry, but at the same time, “no.” He muttered, “m’ fine. Nauseous.”

He couldn’t see her expression, but he could guess what it was. He really did feel tired. And his head was hurting. A lot. He needed some time to think. Perhaps he could use the excuse of needing rest to recover to gather his wits. And maybe cry. He really felt like crying.

“I’ll make some soup and have someone bring it up, just in case you change your mind.”

“Thanks.” He said honestly. He cracked his eyes open again.

She was closing the jar of bruise salve. The twins were looking at him in concern. 

His heart gave a painful tug when he looked at their faces. So he looked away, focusing his attention on the jar in his mother’s hands.

“You said Perce found me?”

“Yeah.” Fred answered.

“Carried you downstairs so mum could look at you too.” George added.

Percy.. Percy who Ron and his brothers had teased and ignored for years. Percy who they wrote off as stuck up and unfeeling. Percy who had moved out and avoided all contact or ties to them.

Percy who betrayed the ministry to fight in the Battle of Hogwarts alongside his family. 

Percy who cursed the Death Eater Minister of Magic. Percy who cracked jokes in the middle of the fight.

 ~~Percy who held Fred in his arms as he died~~. 

Percy whom Ron realized, they had all, in one way or another, let down.

Ron tried to nod but winced when the room started spinning. “Ugh.”

“Stay in bed. Get some rest.” His mother leaned down and kissed him lightly on his hair. “I’ll come check on you in an hour or two.”

He hummed in acknowledgement. 

She got up, followed by the twins.

“Hey,” he called after them. “Tell Perce Thanks.” His eyes drooped closed at last.

He heard the door close.

And he was lost in memories.

* * *

“Girl! Up!”

Holly shot up at the first set of rapping knuckles.

Her hand tightening around and suddenly brandishing a pen, no, the _Elder Wand_ , the tip glowing hotly, but not sparking.

She took a deep breath and let her arm relax. The glow died.

“Get up! And don’t let the bacon burn!”

With a final round of insistent knocking, she heard Petunia walk away.

She let out a long sigh.

Nothing had happened since her first accidental use of the Elder Wand over a week ago, but she was still hesitant to use magic intentionally. 

That wasn’t to say that she wasn’t tempted though. 

Like when she decided to settle for the old fashioned Muggle way of breaking out of her closet to get food in the dead of night rather than use Alohomora and open it easily.

Technically she also already knew how to Apparate. And boy she was sorely tempted to just apparate to Grimmauld place, or the Burrow, or Hogsmeade, or Diagon Alley. But the telltale crack of Aparating was hard to hide when she was stuck in her closet. Unwilling to try using magic. 

She could withdraw money from Gringotts, rent a room at the Leaky Cauldron until she went to Hogwarts. But she couldn’t do that every year.

However… she wouldn’t have to if she could just free Sirius…

She shook her head to clear the thoughts. Now was not the time to think about that. She had a breakfast to cook.

Holly sighed and got up, pushing the invisibility cloak off her legs.

It was like an extra blanket for her. A nice edition to the old, stained piece of linen she had had her entire life. But there was something about being under the cloak.. it made her feel safe, comforted. It felt a bit like home.

Holly rummaged around under the cloak until she found the sock that she had stuffed the ring in. She had moved it from being wrapped up in the random shirt to the socks after the first day. She had to make sure she didn’t accidentally touch it. But she couldn’t just stuff it in the corner of the cupboard or something. Having it close, like the Wand and the Cloak, was comforting. Especially at night when she was plagued by nightmares.

Holly placed the small bundle along with the wand on the invisibility cloak and folded it.

The air shimmered and the silvery bundle turned invisible. 

She pushed it under her bed. 

Then she straightened out and ventured out into the kitchen.

It was Dudley’s Birthday.

If her being flung into the past hadn’t radically changed too many things, then she’d be allowed to go to the zoo with everyone.

She smirked as she placed the bacon in the pan.

This time she’d have enough control to not make the glass disappear. She wouldn’t get into trouble.

“What are you smiling about Girl!?”

She jumped at the sudden bark from her uncle.

“Nothing.” She answered hastily, putting the bacon on a plate.

The sooner she was out of here, the better.

She set the food on the table wherever space wasn’t taken up by presents.

Dudley came into the room, making a beeline to his presents.

She ignored him and set up plates and cutlery.

“There’s only thirty six.” Dudley accused with growing anger. “That’s two less than last year.”

She ignored him, but started to eat her food faster. 

Aunt Petunia would take care of it, diffusing the situation by offering to buy two new presents.

But right now, they were preoccupied with the presents, too much so to notice if she took some extra food.

“Darling,” crooned Aunt Petunia, “you haven’t counted the present from Aunt Marge. See, it’s right here under the big one from Mummy and Daddy.”

“All right, thirty seven then.” Dudley grumbled. His face was turning red. 

Hailey quietly continued to eat her food.

Petunia sensed the danger and quickly amended, “and we’ll buy you Two new presents when we go out. How is that Popkin? You’ll have thirty nine presents. Is that alright sweetums?”

Huh, Holly chewed slowly as she vaguely remembered Dudley having a moment of trying to add two to thirty seven. Perhaps she had done something different that prompted small unnoticeable changes.

If that was the case, then how much would change if she made changes intentionally?

“Oh. Alright then.” Dudley said as he grabbed the nearest present. 

Holly drowned them out as she quickly cleared off her plate and stood up to put her plate in the sink.

The phone rang.

Hopefully it was Mrs Figg, calling to say that she couldn’t take Holly. Well, she’d feel bad that Mrs Figg broke her leg, but it’d mean she got to go to the Zoo.

She suppressed a smile as she washed the dishes.

She didn’t really know why she was so excited. It wasn’t the first time she had gone to something interesting, at least not in her memory. Perhaps it was because she saw it as a break from planning and being drowned in memories. Perhaps she was just eager to be out of the house that held the Horcrux.

Well… the Horcrux other than herself. 

“Bad news Vernon,” Aunt Petunia said, coming back to the table. “Mrs Figg has broken her leg, she can’t take the girl.”

Dudley looked up, his jaw dropping in horror.

“Now what?” Aunt Petunia glared at Holly.

Holly kept her head down and eyes averted.

“We could ask Marge..” Uncle Vernon said slowly.

“She hates the girl.”

“What about your friend, what’s-her-name, Yvonne.”

“On holiday. In Majorca.” She snapped.

Holly pursed her lips, waiting for the idea to occur to them.

“What about your other friend, Jan, or whatever.”

“Jane, and her children are home sick with the flu. We don’t want the girl to come back and spread the germs to Duddikins.”

Well, that was new. Actually, last time, didn’t she suggest that she could stay? She pursed her lips and started drying the dishes before piping in slowly. “I could just stay here, _alone_ , I don’t mind.” Reverse psychology at the finest. Hermione would be proud.

Petunia looked like she had just offered to strip naked and dance in the streets.

“And find the house in ruins!?” She nearly shrieked.

“You can’t find anyone to take me.” Holly pointed out.

Petunia pursed her lips so hard they turned white. “I suppose..” she started, “we could take her with us to the zoo… and then just leave her in the car...”

“She isn’t sitting in the car alone, it’s new and I won’t have her soiling it.”

Ba-Da-Boom Ba-Da-Bing. And that settled it.

Dudley’s face turned redder and redder. 

Oh yeah, the tantrum. 

“It’ll be like I’m not there. I promise.” She said quickly, hoping that it was the right thing to say.

“That’s right dear!” Petunia jumped in, hugging her giant son. “I won’t let her ruin your special day.”

She ducked behind the counter, pretending to put away plates as she grinned like a maniac.

The doorbell rang.

Holly schooled her face into an impassive one as she straightened up.

Out of all of Dudley’s gang. Piers Polkiss was the one she hated the most.

Case in point, the moment he entered the room, his eyes wandered to where she was, dragging over her figure. She quickly hurried out of the room.

“Girl, make yourself presentable.” Her aunt hissed at her as she passed.

She didn’t really have much things that she could use to make herself look presentable.

Nevertheless, she made her way to her Cupboard.

She found a somewhat cleaner and better looking shirt and put it on. One without any stains. One that Dudley had worn a few years ago, which fit her current frame better.

She combed her fingers through her hair the best she could, stroking her bangs down to lie flat. 

Her hair was short at the moment. Easier to maintain. Or “less likely to catch lice or some other nasty bug and bring it home to Dudders”, as Aunt Petunia claimed. It had caused her to be mistaken for a boy several times in the past. Something Dudley had relentlessly bullied her for.

Holly sighed and turned to leave.

She stopped in the doorway of her cupboard, glancing back.

The next thing she knew she was down on her knees, pulling an invisible bundle out from under the cot and unraveling it.

Her hands curled around the Elder Wand and she stilled. 

The allure to use it was too much. 

She closed the door to her Cupboard and sat down, staring at the wand. 

Perhaps… it might be a good idea to bring it. Just in case.

No. She didn’t need it…

Thirty minutes later she was in the car, squished between her fat cousin and the door. 

And the Elder Wand was strapped to the inside of her calf.

* * *

The drive to the Zoo was not that bad. She kept to herself, knowing not to mention anything related to magic.

She settled for tuning out everyone and watching people outside the window.

Honestly, she was thankful that she wasn’t stuck in between Dudley and Piers. At least the only thing Dudley was interested in was poking her, squishing her, and complaining loudly.

Holly distracted herself by counting the numbers of motorcycles she saw on the road and making a note of the different types. 

Honestly, she didn’t really know much about motorcycles, but knew that Sirius had had his own once and had tweaked it just like how Mr Weasley had tweaked his old Ford Angela, That same motorbike was now in Hagrid’s possession. 

Holly idly wondered if, after freeing Sirius and getting to live with him, Sirius would get a new bike. Perhaps he would teach her how to ride it…

Thinking about Sirius sent a pang of guilt through her. Here she was, living and having fun, while he was suffering in Azkaban. 

‘ _Just a few more weeks_ ,’ she reminded herself, ‘ _Just a few more weeks and I’m gone. I’ll be in the Wizarding world and I will be able to start researching how to help Sirius._ ’

She spent the rest of the trip in her own head, planning and thinking about the Wizarding World. 

They arrived at the Zoo soon enough, and she quickly clambered out before Dudley could bowl her over with his impatience.

True to her word, Holly stood apart from the rest of the group nearly the whole time.

She was able to swindle Vernon into buying her a lemon popsicle by catching the eye of the nice vendor lady and standing close to the group.

And then she was handed Dudley’s half finished Knickerbocker glory ice cream when he was upset with it.

But other than that, she kept her distance.

After half an hour they made their way to the reptile house.

She made sure to be far enough away that Aunt Petunia could still see her but it didn’t look like they were together. 

She spent time listening to the smaller snakes. They mostly complained about their food and gossiped about the people. 

She vaguely wondered how she hadn’t realized she could talk to snakes sooner. Perhaps she had just ridden their small voices off as voices of the other people at the Zoo.

After ten minutes, she noticed that one of the handlers was outside one of the snake cages, holding a small dark green and brownish snake.

He was letting people come up and touch it.

She grinned and walked over.

The handler, an older man with a very bushy silvery moustache and receding hairline that made him feel like a portly grandfather, smiled at her as she tentatively approached. “Hello young lady. This is Indie, she’s a common grass snake. Would you like to touch her?”

“Sure.” Holly said slowly, making sure she was speaking English. Oh wait… she suddenly had a very stupid idea.

She held out her hands and the handler draped the snake around them. She grinned. “ _Hello there.”_ She hissed at it quietly.

The snake turned to stare at her. “ _Speaker? A human who speaks our language?”_

The handler chortled. “Cute. I like to pretend that I can speak to them too sometimes. I’m not sure if she can understand me or if I’m just speaking gibberish.”

Holly grinned up at him. Oh, he had no idea.

“ _Tooth hurts._ ” Indie the grass snake complained. “ _Speaker, help.”_

She lifted the snake to look at it’s mouth. Sure enough, a tooth in the back was slightly crooked with a dark discoloration in the gums. “Hey.” She addressed the handler. “Is there something wrong with her tooth?”

The handler frowned and reached up to tilt the snake’s head. “Nope, I don’t think- oh, wait.” He pressed the snake’s head to tilt it upwards. “Yeah, I see what you mean. Don’t worry, I’ll get it fixed for her. I’m surprised you spotted that.”

She shrugged. “I had a pet snake that had a tooth ache once.” She lied easily.

He smiled and took the snake from her. “Well, I’ll go look at it right now. I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay here.”

“Thank you, goodbye. Goodbye Indie.” She waved at the snake, _“Goodbye.”_

“ _Farewell speaker._ ”

The man laughed again and walked off.

Well, Holly thought, that was fun. 

“Come on! Move!”

Her good mood deflated a bit and she grimaced as she turned to look at her cousin who was currently pounding on the glass of the boa constrictor’s cage. She winced with sympathy as the snake opened one lone eye and glared at him.

“ _Stupid human.”_ One of the smaller snakes in the neighboring exhibit complained.

“ _No, that’s an animal._ ”

“ _I’m pretty sure it’s a human. It’s wearing the covers that they wear._ ”

Holly suppressed a smile. Snakes really were the best.

She looked back at the large snake in the glass enclosure that Dudley was assaulting. She felt sorry for it. Last time, it was able to have a bit of freedom because she had vanished the glass. Though it was probably captured not long after.. 

Maybe with her on the opposite side of the room she’d be free from blame. It’d be funny to see Dudley fall in again. 

But was it worth it? Her Aunt and Uncle would try to pin anything unusual on her. Maybe being on the other side of the room wouldn’t be enough. 

Dudley continued to yell at the snake and pound on the glass.

It would be funny if the glass just broke under his fist…

Bingo.

She grinned. 

She could just make it shatter instead of vanish. It wouldn’t be the first time she made glass shatter remotely using accidental magic. 

Last time she had just been really angry so… 

She glared at the glass.

Nothing happened.

‘ _Come on! Disappear!_ ’ She thought. 

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, summoning up a feeling of pure rage. 

It came easily, too easily. She had way too much practice being angry. She felt her magic rise up and coil around her, like a snake preparing to strike- 

A hand tried to slide around her waist. “Hey freak-“

She jumped. 

And the glass on the python’s cage shattered under Dudley’s hands.

He screamed bloody murder and jumped back.

The hand on her waist retracted just as quickly with another scream. She glanced backwards and saw Piers Polkiss sprinting towards the exit, clutching his arm.

People all around were screaming and scrambling out of the way.

Idly, Holly realized that shattering the glass might not have been the best idea. Actually, now that she thought about it, it was an incredibly foolish and childish thing to do. But what was done was done. 

The python slithered out, pushing past the glass shards.

“ _I’m free!!_ ”

She smiled softly. But then stilled when she noticed something.

“ _You’re bleeding.”_ She informed the python, frowning. That was the problem with broken glass.

It looked at her in surprise. “ _A speaker?_ ”

The snake was trailing blood from a small cut from the broken glass.

“ _You have to stay and get them to look at you. You’re hurt.”_

The snake looked back at his body and then to her. “ _Thank you speaker. But I’ll be alright._ ”

He slithered past, nipping at people’s ankles as he did.

She stared after it. Silently praying that it really would be alright. 

In next to no time she was back in the office of the Owner of the Zoo. 

The man was both apologetic and angry. 

To them, it looked like Dudley had broken the glass. And they were pressing charges.

Vernon and Petunia wanted to press charges for the danger that Dudley was put in and the injuries he had sustained. He had only gotten his hands scratched a bit. No more than a papercut. They were already cleaned and bandaged and had been for the last hour but Dudley was still crying. 

Piers was found and brought back to them. He had somehow broken his right hand. 

She could somehow still feel her magic lingering around the broken and bruised appendage. But luckily he had fallen down trying to escape the snake and they blamed it on that. 

They took him to the hospital in an ambulance where they met Piers’s mother who was crying her pointed face off. She and Petunia immediately got together and started complaining loudly about the irresponsibility of the Zookeepers and Managers. 

Petunia insisted that Dudley be given a checkup too. 

The boys were crying about being traumatized by the snake. 

She almost snorted. If anyone was traumatized by a snake in their lives, it would be her.

The both of them were given lollies and juice. Vernon left for a few minutes and came back with lots of pastries and other sweets to pacify them. 

They were so focused on Dudley and Piers that they completely ignored her. Which was completely fine with her.

She just hoped that the snake was alright.

All in all, it wasn’t a bad day. 

Or so she thought. 

As soon as they got home, Uncle Vernon grabbed her arm and roughly pulled her aside before starting to yell at her. Saying that bringing her along was bad luck and that it was all her fault. 

Then she was once again banished to her cupboard for who knows how long.

Holly sighed when she heard the last of the locks locking shut. 

She reached down and lifted her pants leg, revealing the Elder Wand, still strapped to her leg with some shoelace. 

She undid the shoelace and freed the wand. 

She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, clutching the wand to her chest. 

She could hear Aunt Petunia fussing over Dudley and Uncle Vernon stomping his way upstairs, clearly upset at having to pay for damages. Holly really couldn’t bring herself to regret what she had done. Not only did she get to break that slimy Piers Polkiss’s wrist and make Dudley scream and squeal like a stuck pig, she had actually done wandless magic. Sort of...

Holly smiled softly to herself as she sat in the darkness once again, the Elder Wand clutched in her hands, feeling her magic swirling lazily around her. 

Just a few more weeks. Just a few more weeks and she would get her Hogwarts letter and get out of no. 4 Privet Drive. 

Just a few more weeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any updates shall be subject to my every passing whim and fancy.  
> Comments are greatly appreciated.  
> (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥
> 
> -Cypress T Riverblade

**Author's Note:**

> Any updates shall be subject to my every passing whim and fancy.  
> Comments are greatly appreciated.  
> (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥
> 
> -Cypress T Riverblade


End file.
